What he said...

Via the CodePink mailing list (the OR list), I had the great good fortune to read an exceptionally thoughtful, sensitive, insightful, and well-written piece about the Critical Mass bike ride at the RNC this past week. Reading through the essay was like finding a light in the darkness - not just because of the discussion of why people are drawn to activism but because someone else has noticed the lack of human connection so prevalent in today's society.

I would give credit to the author but the only name I saw was johnny. So thanks, johnny, for articulating in such a clear and lovely fashion, many of the thoughts and feelings that have been haunting me for months. Your essay is a gift of great value and I honor you for giving it to the rest of us. I've only included the first paragraph in this post because the entire message is long. However, it's EXTREMELY good and worth reading. I've included a link to the whole thing at the end of the snip:
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by johnny

"Two hours into this small miracle, the police were deployed to constrain the outbreak of humanity."

Notes on the Critical Mass Ride

I participated in the Critical Mass bike ride of August 27, and I have already been asked several times why I did it. After nearly three years of protest, the question sounds ridiculous to me. "Why?" I asked a News One camerawoman who interviewed me in Union Square before the ride commenced. "What, do you live in a cave? Take your pick." I resorted to my usual response, which I gave by rote, strengthened by the assurance that I was too rational to ever actually appear on the news. I explained that there were important public discussions that weren't ]happening, about the war, about globalization, about the environment, and that they needed to happen, and that until I was convinced that they were happening I was going to be making my statement in the streets.

As I rode on, I had the typical afterthoughts and, typically,spent most of the ride thinking of all the things I should have said. What nagged me the most about what I had said was that these discussions were happening. The Internet was stuffed to its infinte brim with discussion boards, news sites, blogs, comics, flash animations. Even the major outlets, the so-called corporate press, were having these discussions. Prominent magazines like Harper's, and columnists like Krugman in the New York Times, who reached hundreds of millions, all routinely agreed with me. Everyone I knew routinely agreed with me. more...
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[NOTE: I did only the teensiest bits of editing that include removing the >>'s and adding in some paragraph splits for more readability. My apologies if I've cut up the original in any way.]